October 18, 2010
Congress and President Obama should be pushing for regulators to impose a foreclosure moratorium until they can be sure that a system is in place that ensures that rules are being obeyed and the law is being followed. Clearly such a system does not exist today.
This is not a radical step. Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Ally Financial all announced moratoriums because they recognized that their internal systems were not working. There is no reason to believe that other servicers are doing any better.
Government regulators must take an active role in supervising this process. The idea that we should “trust the banks” at this point is too silly to be taken seriously.
We need to know that banks are following the proper procedures. That if they move to foreclose that they in fact have the right house, that the mortgage debt is actually owed, that no penalties or fees have been illegally tacked on, and that all the paper work has been done properly.
We have had enough liar liens. The banks should have to follow the rules like everyone else. A moratorium on drilling to make sure that it was being done safely was the right move after the BP oil spill. We need a similar moratorium to ensure that foreclosures are also being done safely and by the law.
This article originally appeared on POLITICO’s blog, The Arena.
